Which to use
“reconnais” and “répondais” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,433
- “reconnais” frequency rank
- #25,489
- “répondais” frequency rank
- 31922
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | reconnais | répondais |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de reconnaître (ou reconnaitre). | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de répondre. |
Where the eye mixes reconnais and répondais
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. reconnais and répondais follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses reconnais with répondais
A purely visual mix-up. reconnais (\ʁə.kɔ.nɛ\) and répondais (\ʁe.pɔ̃.dɛ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31922, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
reconnais is recorded at frequency rank #6,433, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁə.kɔ.nɛ\. répondais is at rank #25,489, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁe.pɔ̃.dɛ\.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 31922, this pair ranks #300,714 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of reconnais vs répondais
Shared letters: ainors. Private to "reconnais": ce. Private to "répondais": dpé.
"reconnais" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC · "répondais" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- reconnais ← erconnais · rceonnais · recconnais · recnonais · reconais · reconanis · reconnaiss · reconnasi
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "reconnais" for "répondais" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "reconnais" or "répondais" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "reconnais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "répondais" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #300,714 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "reconnais" and "répondais" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "répondais vs répondons". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #300,714 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.